The archetypal modern kitchen: open plan cooking, dining and living

A new kitchen and utility room extension has dramatically improved this 1960’s house; eliminating the warren of small rooms and providing a superb family kitchen/living space with a good connection to the garden.

This 1960’s house suffered from a warren of small rooms and tiny kitchen, accessed only through the dining room, with the only garden access from kitchen onto a dank side patio area and not into the rear garden proper.  Our brief was simple: provide a large, open-plan kitchen, dining, and family living space, with good natural light and the all-important ‘indoors-outdoors’ feel.

We achieved this by building a single-storey linear extension with vaulted ceiling where the dank side patio was.  This connected the house to the existing detached garage, providing a useful utility space as a buffer inbetween.  By moving the study from the front to the rear of the house, it not only offered views into the garden as the perfect backdrop to brighten the working day, but provided better opportunities for the layout of the kitchen/dining/family space.  The open-plan space was created by removing the entire side wall of the house at ground floor level, and installing steel beams and columns to support the structural loads.

Redwood Drive open plan kitchen: living spaceThe existing kitchen window opening was enlarged and bi-fold doors were installed to match those fitted in the new glazed gable of the extension, and the two combined offer great views into the south-facing garden.  A stylish kitchen was installed, together with integrated audio-visual cabling and equipment.  Ceramic flooring was laid throughout to enhance the feeling of spaciousness, the light colour reflecting the natural daylight.  Underfloor heating was installed to reduce the need for wall-mounted radiators for which space was limited, and provides comfort underfoot even on the coldest days.

Download our Case Study for this project.